Your Local ShopGirl Blogger

Hi
Thanks to those who are now reading my weekly blog about the comic goings on at my Mum's chandelier shop - your local shop!

Have a read - maybe it'll brighten your day:

www.emilybenet.blogspot.com

and please keep passing it on... Thanks

PS My Shop Girl Blog is soon to be published as a book by Salt Publishing.

They sure brighten my day. Happy holiday! x

Can't wait for the book. I love your writing. :)

Just read your entire blog.Absolutely hilarious,put me down for a signed copy when the book comes out. Also its worth asking the cinema in Bermondsey square to show your short film when its finished,or the Roxy on Borough high street.

Thanks for the support! That's great to hear. I did think about the new cinema. I'll have a chat with the director. I've seen a tiny bit of the film and it's looking really good. I can't wait to see it myself and share it with you all.

Please keep passing my link on! Thanks x

Yes, have a word with Rob - or Jason - they do have cast and crew screenings there, quite regularly:

http://www.shortwavefilms.co.uk/

It's a good venue, particularly on a warm summer's night :p

Hope you had a great time in Barcelona x

The book launch is this week:
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/whatson/event/8220

Yay! A Star is Born!! :p x

Good luck with the book launch, Emily. I wish I could come!

After hearing about Emily's blog & book on the SE1 website, I took a look. I loved the idea and I also liked Emily's writing style so recently called into the lighting shop on TBR and bought a signed copy to show my support. I really wish I hadn't.

About a year ago, my boyfriend (long term partner) called into the shop to have a couple of French lamps rewired and he is featured from page 29. Part of Emily's description of him is as follows - ‘To be fair I assumed he was an investment banker earning lots of money. I went further to assume he was too busy to enjoy the simple things in life and therefore naturally unhappy, that he'd hesitate if you asked him the colour of his partner's eyes and he couldn't remember the last time he bought a chocolate ice cream and sat with his feet in the sand. (edit) he wasn't the type of person that welcomed a conversation. As far as he was concerned we offered a service and nothing more.'

WOW! To be fair I hadn't read up to page 29 yet, but my boyfriend had. He was understandably hurt to be thought of and described this way. (He isn't a banker or in a related field. Never has been. He isn't an unhappy person and probably knows me too well, if anything. Certainly no issues on the ice cream or the bare feet front, if you substitute grass for sand.) His big mistake here was being considerate. He took the lamps in to make sure they were safe for us to continue using in the UK. I usually do that type of thing, but I wasn't well at the time.

The rest of the Emily's piece includes other assumptions and comments (based on conversation she said my boyfriend was not interested in having) and making fun of the lamps and him for having them. To clarify, the lamps are made from pieces of carved stone from a Gothic French church, originally collected by his grandmother. One lamp with carved leaves (even I can see that), Emily wrote looked like it had rats skulls all over it. Luckily they were able to vastly improve the carvings by using stickers to give the rats eyes but remembered in time to take them off before collection. ‘He wouldn't have found that funny as they were the main feature of his room.' (They're not - the main feature, that is.)

The only thing I can remember about this is that we had to take the lamps back to be re-done. The length of the power cords were way too short & didn't reach the sockets. I can see why now.

I originally thought the blog was a light hearted glimpse into the life of a shop girl, but now I'm not too sure. This post seems to be a bit mean and cynical to me. I guess sitting all day in a shop that has had ‘closing down' written across the front window for as long as I can remember can be dull at times and things like this help to pass the time. I have no idea why Emily took such an obvious dislike to my boyfriend or why if she didn't like one of the pieces of gothic stone, she didn't say how beautifully carved the other one was. I guess that wouldn't get as many laughs. Sorry, this experience has obviously left me feeling pretty sad and disappointed.